“His 6-year-old brother stepped in. He said, ‘What’s wrong? Haven’t you ever seen a kid in a wheelchair?’ I’ve lost count of the number of times a parent has told their children, ‘Stay away from that child!'”
‘Momma, why can’t I walk like my friends?’ His legs were sticking straight up in the air, unable to bend. A lady in Walmart was staring long and hard.’
‘Please help me, mom!’ My heart dropped. ‘I’m so thirsty. My tongue feels like sandpaper! I REALLY need a drink.’ An ER doctor yelled, ‘Get this young man back here RIGHT NOW!’
“We were in the middle of the Nevada desert with no signs of life for hours. The doctor informed me, ‘If you had waited 3 hours, your son would’ve died in the car.’ These symptoms are mistaken for the stomach flu or virus, strep throat or a growth spurt. I couldn’t believe I had numerous excuses for all of my son’s symptoms.’
‘If I wasn’t around, Zach could find someone he could have a family with. If I wasn’t here, he wouldn’t have to worry. These are MY problems. No one else should have to deal with them!’
“I was different. I couldn’t go to sleepover with just a change of clothes and my pillow. Other girls thought I was weird, boys didn’t think I was cute. They thought I was contagious and they would ‘catch’ it.”
‘Mom kept saying, ‘He’s gone. We lost him.’ When I lost my two babies, I could see my children sitting on my dad’s lap, tears of joy streaming down his face. I closed my eyes. My dad was a grandpa.’
“I remember seeing my dad sitting on the couch. I could tell he didn’t feel great. Later that afternoon I was with my mom and sister when we got a call from the local hospital. My dad had collapsed at work.”
‘I couldn’t keep any food down. I had lost 25 pounds. Something serious was going on, I could feel it in my bones. And I was pregnant.’
“I remember saying to him that something must be brewing for us because our life had been too easy! The rest was a blur of grief and anger. I have a lifelong disease—one that will never be cured. One that was caused by IVF.”
‘The neck of my womb was open and was 100% effaced. I locked myself in my bathroom and refused to talk to my partner, the midwives or doctors.’
“My baby was struggling through contractions and distorting her head trying to get out. I screamed, cried, swore and kicked as I couldn’t understand what was going on.”
‘My baby had undiagnosed Type 1 Diabetes. Her blood sugar level was in the 500s. How could she have died from a disease thousands of people manage? I could not comprehend.’
“When I got to the babysitter’s, she carried her to my car; my daughter was completely knocked out. In an offhanded way I asked if she was breathing, joking. Until I put my hand on her little chest and felt no movement.”
‘Every time I looked in the mirror I saw the girl with Endometriosis. The girl whose brother died. The girl who had given up. I was done being that girl. I wanted to feel beautiful again. ‘
“I grieved the loss of my baby I will never feel growing inside me. I was angry at God for taking my brother so soon. I was done being that girl. I wanted to feel beautiful again.”
‘Alec was looking at a cost of $1,300 a month. He died because he was unable to afford insulin.’
“He was rationing the little bit of insulin he had left to last until pay day.”
‘I get it’: Woman with Type 1 diabetes encourages other diabetic moms with gripping newborn photo
“The key is to focus on the good. Remember, we are more than a number on a meter.”
